Naruto Unleashed: Series 8 Part 2

Introduction

I get earache when I'm working at my laptop, but not when I'm working at my desktop. In fact, the only place I get an earache is at my laptop. Maybe it has something to do with my posture, the chair I use, and an oddly located draught… Hmm? The boxset? Oh yes, it's Naruto's 16th instalment. You just imagine I said something meaningful and interesting about a series that I patently no longer have any interest in, something bright and peppy to illuminate my thoughts as we reach 200 plus episodes, and about the 60th episode in which nothing of consequence or entertainment value will occur. You do that, while I try to figure out this weird ear thing of mine…

12 years previously, the Hidden Leaf village was plagued by the Nine-Tailed fox demon. The Fourth Hokage ninja sacrificed his life to defeat the menace, and sealed up the spirit in the body of a newborn child. That orphan grew up as Naruto Uzumaki, a mischievous prankster with great ambition. Not only does he want to be a ninja, but he also wants to be the strongest ninja of them all and be granted the title Hokage. He has more than a little competition, the Hidden Leaf village is a community of ninja, and Naruto had great difficulty just passing his entrance exams to qualify as a lowly Genin. Even when he did manage to get his certification, he was assigned to undergo training by the demanding Kakashi, partnered with his rival Sasuke and Sakura, the girl on whom he has a crush. What makes things difficult is that few see him as Naruto, instead of the dreadful fox demon that was sealed inside him.


We're in the filler zone, which means that the story is on hold until the manga catches up to the anime, and the episodes here don't advance the overall story or develop the characters. Sasuke has joined Orochimaru, and Naruto needs to complete his training before he can try to redeem him once more. None of that will happen until the filler is past. Each filler story will get a quick description and the listing of episodes.


Previously on Naruto, Rock Lee was feeling out of sorts, as Gai Sensei had a new protégé, Yagura, who could run rings around the still recuperating Lee, and who appeared to displace him as the apple of Gai's eye. But Yagura was evil of course, leading Gai into a trap when they go training in the mountains. Yagura is actually one of the Ryudoin brothers, who want vengeance against Gai for what he did to their father. Lee races off to the rescue, but the brothers have evil ninja puppetmaster skills that will pit Lee against his beloved master Gai!

196. Hot-Blooded Confrontation: Student vs. Sensei



There's a building boom going on in the Hidden Leaf village, and Naruto's made a friend in ramen with a carpenter from the Sand Village named Genno. But Genno isn't what he seems, he's actually an infiltrator, and it isn't long before some of the Leaf Village's top secret plans are stolen. No doubt there will soon be an attack on the Leaf, and almost every able-bodied ninja is sent to guard the borders. It falls to Shikamaru to lead a team to recover the stolen plans. Naruto's supposed to be on the team, but he can't get over the fact that someone he trusted betrayed them. It's a friendship that comes back to haunt him when he's arrested by the Anbu Black Ops.

197. Crisis: The Hidden Leaf 11 Gather!
198. The Anbu Gives Up? Naruto's Recollection
199. The Missed Target
200. The Powerful Helper
201. Multiple Traps! Countdown to Destruction


Presented by the ninja equivalent of Dave Lee Travis, here is the chart rundown of the top 5 fight sequences from Naruto so far. And since Rock Lee isn't in any of them, I'll say this chart has been rigged.

202. The Top 5 Ninja Battles!



Lamenting his lack of training one day, Naruto happens to encounter a young girl named Yakumo, painting a picture of the village. When Naruto notices that she's painting a stormy day when the sky is blue, he's about to comment, when suddenly the skies cloud over, and lightning strikes the Hokage's home. Before anything else can happen, a couple of medical ninja appear along with a member of Anbu Black Ops, subdue the girl and spirit her away, telling Naruto that he didn't see anything. Meanwhile, back in the village, and after the fire has been put out, Kurenai tells the Hokage that she's quitting the leadership of Squad 8. This doesn't go down well with Shino, Kiba and Hinata. Kurenai is obviously feeling guilty about something, and Naruto promises to find out just what.

203. Kurenai's Decision: Squad 8 Left Behind
204. Yakumo's Sealed Power
205. Kurenai's Top-Secret Mission - The Promise with the Third Hokage
206. Genjutsu or Reality?
207. The Supposed Sealed Ability


Naruto and Kiba have a mission to escort a priceless teacup on its journey. The only problem is that the client who hired them is an obnoxious selfish oaf.

208. The Weight of the Prized Artefact!

Picture

Naruto gets a 4:3 regular transfer that is clear and sharp throughout. There are some minor compression artefacts that are only really noticeable during freeze frame. As you would expect from such a long running animation, it's best not to tire the animators out. Naruto is certainly less sophisticated than most anime released today, the character designs are simpler, and backgrounds not excessively defined. Yet in terms of quality, the animation is very effective, and certainly goes a step beyond older long running shows like Dragonball Z or Sailor Moon.

Sound

The DD 2.0 English and Japanese stereo is more than adequate in recreating the original experience, and given a little Prologic magic does offer a pleasant ambience and some discrete action. More new themes and as always they are memorable and suit the story well, while the incidental music is a little more generic, but definitely gives Naruto its own musical identity. I sampled the English dub and found it acceptable if unspectacular. It certainly isn't the worst I have heard, but some of the actors don't seem particularly suited to the characters.

Extras

Wheeling out the same menus again, the only extras you'll find are the trailers on disc 1, Naruto the Movie, and Naruto the Movie 2. And once again, Manga haven't bothered to adequately chapter the episodes, with just a single stop in the middle of each. At least let us skip the credit sequences.

Conclusion

After that pessimistic and overly cynical opening paragraph, I find that I have to eat my words, as conforms to the usual reviewer's cliché. Actually, not so much eat my words as just delicately nibble at the edges, as while this sixteenth instalment of Naruto is nowhere near as dire as the previous deliveries of filler and inconsequence, it is still, undoubtedly filler, the cobbled together non-narrative designed to provide a burst of familiarity, keeping the characters' popularity alive while the manga creator comes up with more original storyline to eventually animate. For the last few volumes, Naruto filler has been excruciatingly bad, but now, as if the creators have sensed that the series is coming to the end of its lifespan, they've decided to actually put some effort into what they are creating, probably hoping to leave viewers on something of a high, so that when Naruto Shippuden does eventually begin, they haven't got to wash the taste of nausea out of their mouths first.


But just so that you don't feel totally adrift, there are a few crimes against animation in this set, and typically, they are the standalone episodes, and typically, they bookend the set. The first isn't exactly a standalone episode, it's the final part of a two-part story, the one that sees Gai lured into the mountains by some evil ninja, requiring rescue by Naruto, Rock Lee and friends. It rips off (ahem, pays homage to) Shaolin Wooden Men with abandon, and there is some interest in the story, but it ends disappointingly, with a whimper rather than a bang. Stuck in the middle of the set is the recap episode, which surprisingly for such a long running show has been fairly thin on the ground. It's not really a recap episode in the true sense of the word, it's just an excuse to replay some of the more mediocre action sequences from the show (mostly because the really good fights wound up lasting two or three or even four episodes in length), and as a little gift, there's a reminder of what all this Naruto stuff is all about, with cameos from Orochimaru and Sasuke. We end the set with another stinker, with Naruto forced to play bodyguard to someone utterly obnoxious, but on the course of their journey, they develop an understanding and become friends. Last time it was a little snot-nosed brat, this time it's a clean-nosed adult, but even more obnoxious.


It's the arcs that made me pay attention to Naruto as I haven't done in a good thirty or more episodes. There are two decent sized arcs in this collection, and they both have interesting stories and characters, offering something other than the usual Naruto tropes, and even threatening (although never really delivering) character development. The first is the equivalent of Die Hard, with mysterious goings on in the village following the theft of some secret plans. It turns out that Naruto's new ramen-eating friend is responsible, and Naruto has to deal with feelings of betrayal. Especially when it transpires that his friend has set explosives around the village with the intent of destroying everything. It's a race against time to save the village, and pretty much all of the Genin that we have encountered so far have to join forces to accomplish this end, as rumours of an attack have sent everyone else to the border. In many ways this story is a treat, as we get to see all of these characters, Shikamaru, Ino, Rock Lee, Choji, Shino, Kiba, Tenten, Hinata, Neji, Sakura and Naruto shine, and really work together as a team for the first time. The conclusion is a bit of a disappointment, but the ride to get there is worth it.


The second arc on this set is the best filler story yet, offering a look at Kurenai's past and developing her character beyond just Shino, Kiba, and Tenten's master. There are hints of conspiracy and dark dealings among the Leaf Village hierarchy, the suggestion that the Third Hokage may not have been the whiter than white, grandfatherly figure he appeared to be, and the parallels between the girl Yakumo and Naruto's own past have a far greater role to play that just providing a hook for Naruto to empathise with. The thought arises that Naruto just got lucky with the way that his path led, that sealing up the Nine Tailed Fox in him was a last resort, and could very easily have been the same sort of curse that left Yakumo institutionalised and psychologically damaged. Of course the story doesn't end well in terms of narrative satisfaction. And it's all too clear why. If interesting characters like this were allowed to develop, if the story did get a suitable ending, then fans would no doubt clamour to see more of the characters, which given that this is filler and not manga adaptation would be impossible.


After two or three sets of sheer tedium, Naruto suddenly gets tolerable, indeed watchable. You can't get away from the fact that it is just filler, nothing to do with the Naruto story proper, but if you give it a little leeway, there is actually entertainment value in the greater portion of this set. And after this, there is only one more set to go! Hurrah!